Oral Health-Related Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours of Arab Dental Students: Multi-National Cross-Sectional Study and Literature Analysis 2000-2020.

Abanoub Riad,Nèziha Ben Abdesslem,Sameh Attia,Martin Krsek,Mazen Zenati,Julien Issa,Nuraldeen Maher Al-Khanati

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031658

Abstract

Dental students are the future leaders of oral health in their respective communities; therefore, their oral health-related attitudes and behaviours are of practical value for primary disease prevention. The present study aimed to evaluate oral health-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of dental students in Arab countries and explore the potential sociodemographic predictors of their oral health outcomes. A multi-centre, cross-sectional study was conducted during the academic year 2019/2020 in three Arab countries: Lebanon, Syria, and Tunisia. The study used a validated Arabic version of the Hiroshima University Dental Behavioural Inventory (HU-DBI) composed of original twenty items that assess the level of oral health-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours, and four additional dichotomous items related to tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, problematic internet use, and regular dental check-up The HU-DBI score ranges between 0 and 12. A total of 1430 students took part in this study, out of which 60.8% were females, 57.8% were enrolled in clinical years, 24.5% were tobacco smokers, 7.2% were alcohol drinkers, and 87% reported internet addiction. The mean HU-DBI score was 6.31 ± 1.84, with Lebanon having the highest score (6.67 ± 1.83), followed by Syria (6.38 ± 1.83) and Tunisia (6.05 ± 1.83). Clinical students (6.78 ± 1.70) had higher HU-DBI scores than their preclinical peers (5.97 ± 1.86). The year-over-year analysis revealed that dental public health and preventive dentistry courses had significantly and positively impacted the undergraduate students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours. The gender-based differences were not statistically significant, with a modest trend favouring males, especially oral health behaviours. Tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, and problematic internet use were associated with lower HU-DBI scores. In the Arab world, the economic rank of the country where the dental students live/study was weakly correlated with the students’ mean HU-DBI score.

Highlights

In the last thirty years, the significant shift of the global burden of disease (GBD)towards non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has drawn the attention of the international community, represented by the World Health Organization (WHO) [1,2]
This study aimed to evaluate oral health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours among dental students in Arab countries
In Syrian Arab Republic (Syria), data was collected from a single private university in Damascus, the Syrian Private University (SPU); while in Tunisia, data was collected from the only university that had a dental school, the University of

Summary

Introduction

In the last thirty years, the significant shift of the global burden of disease (GBD)towards non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has drawn the attention of the international community, represented by the World Health Organization (WHO) [1,2]. Nations (UN) recognises NCDs as a major challenge for the sustainable development goals (SDGs) agenda, the WHO developed a global coordination mechanism for the prevention and control of NCDs that aims to reduce NCDs-related premature mortality by one-third by 2030 [1,3]. Modifiable risk factors related to lifestyle choices represent the largest portion of the underlying aetiology of NCDs; public health programs aim to first control them [5,6,7]. The common risk factor approach (CRFA) that Sheiham and Watt proposed in 2000 is based on the notion that oral diseases are multifactorial and can respond strongly to the interventions that target oral hygiene habits, diet, smoking, stress coping mechanisms, and patterns of seeking professional care [8,9,10]. Dental students are the future opinion leaders of oral health in their communities, and their oral health attitudes reflect both their level of understanding of the value of disease control and their role in the primary prevention of oral diseases [14]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion